Cabinet construction



F. J. BURST ET AL CABINET CONSTRUCTION Jan. 10, 1956 6 Sheets-Sheet 1Filed Feb. 16, 1951 IN VENTORS.

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Jan. 10, 1956 F. J. BURST ET AL CABINET CONSTRUCTION 6 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed Feb. 16, 1951 VENTY ms.

Jan. 10, 1956 F. J. BURST ET AL CABINET CONSTRUCTION 6 Sheets-Sheet 3Filed Feb. 16, 1951 INVENTORS.

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Jan. 10, 1956 F. J. BURST ET AL 2,730,421

CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 16, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVENTORS.

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ATTORNEYS.

Jan. 10, 1956 F. J. BURST ET AL 2,730,421

CABINET CONSTRUCTION Filed Feb. 16, 1951 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 INVENTORS.

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United States Patent C) I CABINET CONSTRUCTION Francis J. Burst andHarry Weese, Batesville, Ind., as-

signors to Hill-Rom Company, Inc., Batesville, Ind, a corporation ofIndiana Application February16, 1951, Serial No. 211,226

4 Claims. (Cl. 312-257) This invention relates to institutionalfurniture, and

is particularly directed to the construction of cabinets,

dressers, bureaus, and the like for use in hospital suites.

In recent years, physicians and hospital managers have been payingincreasing heed to the pyschological aspects of illness andparticularly, to the depressing effect of drabness, or the absence ofhominess, upon the spirits of the patient. Recovery, and the speed ofit, are, in many cases, materially influenced by the psychologicalattitude of the patient and this in turn is affected by the patientscapacity to feel comfortably adjusted to the atmosphere of the hospitalroom. On this account,it has been the eflort of' forward thinkinghospital managers to make the hospital rooms ashomelike as possible,consistent with appropriate sanitation and permissive maintenance costs.

It is generally agreed that wooden furniture is superior to metalfurniture for hospitals from the points of view of atmosphere andappearance. However, the initial cost, at least, of all-wood furniture,particularly the finely made pieces, is higher than furniture madeentirely of metal, primarily because of the processing advantages ofmetal over wood, since metal is better adapted to production techniquesof manufacture. However, both have certain advantages, and the selectionof one over the other is largely a matter of prejudice. At present,metal furniture is used to a greater extent than wooden furniture inhospitals, possibly as a result of its lower initial cost to thedetriment of patients morale.

The object of the present inventors has been to provide hospitalfurniture, such as cabinets, dressers, bureaus, etc., which combine therecognized advantages of both wood and metal furniture, which are lightand easily moved about the hospital room, and which are adatpe'd to bemanufactured by quantity production methods and assembled by productionline techniques.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the preferred form of corner postused in the cabinet construction.

Figure 2 is a diagrammatic, exploded view in perspective showing theskeletal parts comprising the cabinet construction.

Figure 3 is a semi-diagrammatic view in perspective of a partlycompleted cabinet.

Figure 4 is a perspective view of a completed hospital bedside cabinetconstructed in accordance with the pres 'ent invention.

Figure 5 is a perspective view illustrating theskeletal metal parts ofthe bedside cabinet shown inFigure 4. Figure 6 is a top plan view of thestructure shown Figure 7 is a side elevational view of the cabinet shownin Figure 5 in which certain of the parts are broken away to illustratedetails of construction.

Figure 8 is a view similar to Figure 7 showing a completed cabinet.

ice

Figure 9 is a cross sectional view taken on the line 9-9 in Figure 8.

Figure 10 is across sectional view taken on the line Ill-10 in Figure 8.

Figure 11 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line 11-11in Figure 9.

' Figure 12 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line12-12 of Figure 11. p

The following detailed description of the drawings is divided into twoparts. In the first part, the general aspects of the invention aredisclosed by reference to the first three figures of the drawings. Inthe second part, which refers to Figures 4 to 12, a specific applicationof the present invention to the construction of a hospital bedsidecabinet is disclosed. From a consideration of these two parts, the onedisclosure being rather general and-the second very specific, it isbelieved that those skilled in the art will be able to apply theprinciples of construction of the invention to all of the cabinet-typearticles of furniture, that is, bureaus, dressers, storage cabinets orwhatever is desired. In fact, one of the primary advantages of thepresent construction is that it is applicable to these various types offurniture without appreciable changes in the basic parts or the mannerin which they are assembled.

The structures of the present invention are built around a novel cornerpost which is preferably pre-fabricated as an aluminum extrusion. Asection of such an extrusion is shown in Figure 1, beingindicatedgenerally at 10. From a production point of view, the form of cornerpost shown has a number of advantages. It has no top as such, and eventhough it is not symmetrical, by turning it top for bottom, it may beused at any of the four corners of a cabinet. Thus, only one die isneeded in its manufacture. The extruded form shown may be utilized foreach of the corner posts of all the cabinet-type articles of furniture;regradless of their ditferences in size, the extrusion merely being cutto the length needed in a particular instance.

From a structural point of view, the form of the extrusion also has manyadvantages. The backbone of the corner post is the hollow tubularportion indicated at 11. The excellent strength characteristics oftubular forms are well known. In addition, of course, they are light inweight. A flange 12-is formed at one side of the hollow tubular portion11 and'extends from it at an angle which is tangential rather thanradial, but not necessarily tangent to any particular circle as a matterof accurate geometrical description. structurally, the flange reinforcesthe tubular portion so that the extrusion is surprisingly strong for itssize and weight, this characteristic being most pronounced when aluminumor another light metal is utilized in its fabrication. The scheme ofusing one form of corner post for all articles of furniture in ahospital room suite not only lowers manufacturing costs but gives all ofthe furniture so fabricated a unity of design which is highly desirable.

Asused in the present construction, the corner post is polyfunctional inthat each surface of it has specific functional utility whichcontributes to the structure of the over-all article of furniture inwhich it is embodied. Generally, the structural members which form theskeleton of the furniture are fastened to the inside of the corner postflanges 12, this side being to the back of the extrusion shown inFigure 1. The basic metal skeletal parts are shown diagrammatically inFigure 2, in which four corner posts are utilized in combination withtwo rectangular'structural forms, the top one of which isinconsiderations in the construction of a specific article of furniture.When angle irons are utilized as illustrated in this figure, it ispreferred that the four corners be mitered and welded so that each formis a rigid, selfsustaining unit in and of itself. In wide'articles offurniture such as dressers and bureaus, it is suggested that sheet metalcorner brackets such as those shown at be utilized in order to reinforcethe joints between the respective forms and the legs. These brackets arenot required however in the smaller articles of furniture such asbedside cabinets and small storage cabinets.

The parts forming the metal skeleton are put together as illustrated inthe semi-diagrammatic view of Figure 3. Bolts or rivets are utilized inassembling these parts, and, when so put together each joint within theskeleton is a metal to metal fastening. When so assembled, the elementsdescribed form a rigid, self-sustaining structure exceedingly resistantto deformation. This is an important point in furniture used inhospitals inasmuch as they are subject to hard use and with metal tometal fastening there is no chance for the bolts or rivets to work loosepermitting one piece to shift relative to the other. This would not betrue were there joints comprising metal to wood fastening, since it iswell known that screws or bolts, with the continuous expansion andcontraction of the wood eventually work loose.

The two rectangular forms, 13 and 14, and the corner brackets 15 are allfastened to the flanges 12 of the respective corner posts. All fasteningis by means of eitherbolts or rivets which pass through the metal partsin appropriate holes drilled for the purpose. It is preferred that thecorner,brackets 15 located at the rear of such cabinets as dressers, andbureausbe right angular, each including a pair of triangular shapedarms. The two brackets utilized in the front of open face furnitureconstructions may be planar triangular sheets, as contrasted to theright angular ones used at the back corners, this arrangement permittingclearanceat the front corners. In assembly, the brackets may be fastenedto the outside of each of the respective four corners of the forms 13and 14 and then both the brackets and the angle iron or channel membersof the rectangular forms secured to the respective flanges of the cornerposts. This is illustrated in Figure 3. The construction shown in thisfigure is that which is utilizedfor dressers and bu reaus and the like,the front being open to accommodate drawers, thus at the top front achannel strip 16 is utilized in place of the angle iron shown in Figure2, so that there is no depending lip to interfere with the top drawer.The channel strip may be fastened to the other three members comprisingthe rectangular form by welding or rivets, whichever is desired. Inorder to effect the joint between the respective ends of the channel andthe angles, the upstanding sides of the channel are flattened over ontothe channel base at the ends to form tabs which abut the underside ofthe horizontal portions of the respective angle irons; the rivets orbolts, if used, passing down through both members. The same scheme maybe employed in the bottom rectangle form 14, the channel in thisinstance being turned so that the sides extend downwardly as shown at17. If drawers are to be installed in the article of furniture, drawerslides such as those illustrated at 18 may also be fastened to therespective flanges 12 of the corner posts, the fastening also being madeby bolts or rivets. Thus, observing the perspective view of Figure 3, itwill be noted that all structural members which bear loads are fastenedto inner faces of the respective flanges. This arrangement is applicableto all cabinet types of furniture.

The skeletal metal framework described is completely hidden from view inthe finished article. A wood panel top may be installed, being securedby wood screws which extend up through the respective channels and angleirons of the upper form 13 into the top, and the two sides covered bywood side panels indicated generally at 20. The wood side panels areattached at the outer ticles of furniture.

faces of the respective flanges whereby the cabinets present a dominantappearance of wooden furniture, despite the strength of an all metalconstruction. In general, the back of the cabinet may be of anyinexpensive material, metal or wood since it is not exposed, but the toppreferably is made of wood to maintain the dominance of the wood motifin outward appearance of the cabinet. In the completed article, thefront of the cabinet is either covered by drawers or doors, or acombination of them, which also are finished with wood fronts carryingout the appearance of a wooden article of furniture. The only metalexposed is that of the aluminum corner posts which, as a matter of fact,contrast with the wood and contribute distinctive design to the cabinet.

The side panels 20, the top, and door or drawer fronts preferably aremade of plywood of sufiicient thickness to take wood screws. Each of theside panels is set in to the recess formed by the tangential.relationship of the respective flanges 12 to the hollow tubular portions11 of the corner posts. A flat face 21 is formed at the flange side ofhollow tube 11 to provide an abutment for the side edge of the woodpanel, this flat face 21 meeting the flange at a right angle. Inaddition, it is preferred that the flat face 21 be substantially as wideas the thickness of the panel and that the tube extend out beyond theouter edge of the flat face so that when the panel is in place againstthe respective flanges at the side of an article of furniture the tubesprotect it from being bumped and thus scratched or otherwise marred whenthe article of furniture is shoved against an object.

It will be noted that the panel is merely hung in place on the flangesby means of wood screws which extend through appropriate holes, such asthe one illustrated at 22 in Figurel, from the inside of the cabinet sothat the outer surface of the side panel is not marred by fasteningmeans. Since the metal skeletal framework is a selfsustaining structurein and of itself, none of the stresses placed on it are transmitted tothe screw fastenings and thus there are no isolated stresses placed onmetal to wood joints, and little likelihood of the screws working looseunder these circumstances. in addition however, inasmuch as both sideedges of the panel snugly abut the flat faces 21 and are against theright angular seats provided between the flat faces 21 and flanges 12,they serve as blocks between the respective corner posts and assist tomaintain their parallel space-d relationship. If, under an extremecondition, one corner post is pushed toward the other, the plywood panelwould have to compress between them before relative movement couldoccur. something which-is quite unlikely to take place, because of theresistance of plywood to forces of this nature.

The construction illustrated in the first three figures of the drawingsis essentially diagrammatic but from a consideration of these threefigures, a number of advan tages to the present construction from aproduction point of view will be apparent. All of the basic parts aresubject to being manufactured by utilizing modern subassemblytechniques. For example, the top and bottom rectangular forms can becompleted before final assernbly, the legs cut to length andappropriately drilled. Furthermore, all of the sub-assembly parts aresuch that they can be put together by assembly line manufacturingtechniques. To speed the assembly, it will be noted that the inventorshave completely departed from a number of the usual furnituremanufacturing operations. There are no glue joints at any place in anyof the ar- This is made possible because at no place is there anisolated stress placed on either a wood to wood joint or a metal to woodjoint, all stresses being carried by metal to metal joints. Finefurniture assembly heretofore has required the services of skilledcabinet makers. In the present case, this is not necessary because allparts are put together by means of screws, bolts, or rivets, The finalassembly of the skeletal parts can be done by anyone who knows how torivet or tighten a nut onto a bolt. The installation of the wood panelscan be done by anyone who knows how to use a screwdriver. As anadditional point, it will be observed that all fastening is accomplishedfrom the inside to the outside of the cabinet so that there is littlelikelihood of the finished outside surface of the panels being marred bythe less than careful worker or an unskilled person. Nowhere in thefinal assembly are special tools needed. All joints and fastenings maybe made by those tools which are in common use.

. The complete structures are built around the corner posts and eachsurface of the corner post has a specific functional utility. The innerface of the flange 12 provides a fastening for all metal parts formingthe skeleton and provides hanger support for such things as drawerslides, shelves and the like which normally are used on the inside ofarticles of furniture of this nature. The outer surface of the flangeprovides a seat for the wood panels. The flat face 21 provides anabutting surface for the edges of the said panels, this surface incombination with the outer face of the flange 12 forming a snug fit forthe wood panels. The outer curve of the hollow tube 11 provides a bumpersurface which protects the recessed finished face of the wood panel frommars and scratches. The exposed tubular surface, in addition, provides avery attractive contrast with the panel wood, and inasmuch as the cornerposts are the common denominator of a number of articles of furniturewhich may make up one hospital room suite, the exposed curved surfacesof the hollow tubes gives to all of the furniture so fabricated a unityof design which is highly desirable. The hollow inside of the tube alsoprovideds a seat for leg construction, this point being discussed indetail below.

Thus, every surface of the tube has its specific function,.

the whole, combined'with others of its kind, providing the basis for atype of furniture construction heretofore unknown. These advantages aredirected more to the construction and production. There is however, anexceedingly important feature to the construction which is ratherdifiicult to illustrate clearly by drawings, and that is theaesthetioappeal of the furniture. Both strength and beauty are inherentin the construction utilized, the strength from the metal, and beautyfrom the wood.

As a general rule, hospital management figures on a twenty yearamortization period for furniture, and of course for efficiency thefurniture must last at least that long and during that period requirelittle maintenance. There is little likelihood that the side panels ofthe cabinets disclosed here of ever being scratched because of theprotection afforded by the metal corner posts. However, if throughaccident one is so marred or disfigured that it needs refinishing, sincethe side panels are'merely hung in place, they may be easily removed anda spare substituted. The change can be done in a very short time whilethe article of furniture is in the hospital room. The same method offastening used in the side panels is also'utilized for the tops and aswill be pointed out below, also utilized for the front door and drawersurfaces. Therefore, when it is necessary by reason of accident torefinish a cabinet, there need be no loss of use of it. This is quite anadvantage when compared with past refinishing practices for woodenhospital furniture, and even all-metal furniture for that matter, whereit was necessary to have spare pieces of furniture to be used assubstitutes in the rooms'for those being refinished. In the presentinstance, instead of carrying on hand complete spare articles offurniture, all that is needed is a few spare panels.

Attention is now directed to Figures 4 through 12, in which is discloseda hospital bedside cabinet constructed in accordance with the generalprinciples discussed above. The skeletal metal frame of the cabinet isshown in Figure 2 and for identification purposes, the numerals used toidentify the counterparts of this cabinet in the structure showndiagrammatically in Figures 1 through 3 are retained. In this instance,the top rectangular form 13 includes a pair of angle iron side members23-23 and a pair of front and rear channel members 24-24. The channelsare disposed with their sides extending upwardly in order to provideclearance for a drawer indicated generally at 25. The bottom rectangularform 14 in this cabinet is made of four angle irons which are welded atmitered joints at the four corners. A center panel of wire mesh 26 isshown on the lower form which is provided specifically for the purposeof ventilating the inside of this cabinet and if it is not desired,solid material may be substituted for it.

It will be noted that in the bedside cabinet the brackets 15 are notrequired, and also that the skeletal frame is further strengthened byangle irons 27 which extend along the two sides and across the rear ofthe cabinet just under the drawer 25. Also, in this construction thelower part at the rear of the cabinet is enclosed by. means of a metalbacking 23 formed of sheet metal, the sheet metal being bent over at itstwo sides in order to provide means for fastening it to the flanges ofthe respective rear corner posts (see Figure 10). The lower edge of thebacking 28 may be bent up around the depending edge of the angle ironextending across the back of the bottom rectangular form 14 as at 36 inFigure 7. At the upper end, the backing may be bent over as at 31 inorder to stiffen it along this edge.

it will be noted in Figurev 7 that the metal backing is set in orrecessed with respect to the rear corner posts in order to provide aspace for hanging a towel. For this purpose, a towel bar 32 isjournalled at its respective ends in bores which pierce the inner facesof the respective hollow tubular legs as shown at 33, Figure 6. Ifdesired, rubber grommets 34 may be seated within the bores in the wallsof the tubes, the grommets gripping the' respective ends of the bar sothat when the offset portion or central run 35 of the towel bar is swungout away from the backing 28, the friction between the bar and grommetsmaintains it in an extended position in which it is easier to use.

A preferred form of leg for furniture made in accordance with theinvention is shown in Figure 7. At each corner a hollow tube 36 isinserted into the lower end of the hollow corner post and fixed thereinby means of cross pins 37. A commercial caster 38, as shown in thisfigure, may be installed in the lower end of each leg.

The bedside cabinet structure illustrates quite clearly furtherstructural utility of the corner posts, for it will be seen that at thefront they provide places for hanging the hinges of a door shown at 46,and also means for securing brackets 41-41 for mounting a shelf insidethe cabinet. Both the door hinges and the brackets may be fastened withmetal screws or rivets, whichever is pre ferred. The particular doorconstruction shown is de scribed in detail in a co-pending applicationfiled December 28, 1950, Serial No-203, 148, now abandoned.

The drawer 25 which is mounted in the upper portion of the cabinet maybe of the type which is adapted to be slid open from either the front orthe back of the cabinet. For this purpose, a drawer slide, indicated bythe numeral 42, may be used. If desired, a wood rectangular form such asthat shown at 43 may be mounted on top of the angle irons 27 just underthe drawer, the back one of the four being. grooved as at 44 in order toaccommodate the overturned upper edge 31 of the metal backing 28. Thebottoms and sides of the drawer may be made out of sheet metal. However,the two ends 45, being exposed, are preferably made of wood asshown inFigure 11, carrying out the wood paneling motif. Also, a slidable tray,such as that shown at 46, may be incorporated in the drawer, the trayhaving rolled edges which embrace the upper edges of the sides of thedrawer in sliding engagement.

The bedside cabinet shown here illustrates the adaptability of theconstruction to such unusual features as the recessed towel compartment,the double ended drawer, the front door and the inner shelf. It isbelieved to be within the comprehension of those skilled in the art toadapt the principles of the construction to other articles of furniture,including those having sliding ront doors or a front comprising acombination of drawers and doors. No matter what the construction, anyand all members inside the cabinet can'be hung directly onto the flangesof the corner posts so that their weight and the weight of articlesplaced on them will be carried directly to the corner posts withoutstresses being placed on the side panels.

The back construction utilized is not particularly important inasmuch asa number of different forms may be used; for example, if desired, ametal back such as that shown at 28 may be continued to the top, thusclosing completely the rear of the article of furniture, or if the backis never exposed to view in the normal use of the article of furniture,inexpensive wood sheeting may be used, the sheeting being fastened tothe rear members of the respective upper and lower rectangular frames.Where it is necessary to provide clearance just under the top, channelslike those indicated at 24 may be utilized, with grooves 47 being cutinto the underside of the top in order to accommodate the upstandingsides of the channel.

The wood side panels in the bedside cabinet are seated and fastened aspointed out in the description of Figures 1 to 3. The cross sectionalviews of Figures 9 and 10 do, however, illustrate a preferred manner ofsetting-in the flanges of the corner posts with respect to the panels,which is not illustrated in the diagrammatic views of the first threefigures. The inner face of the panel is cut out along the two side edgesas shown at 48 to a depth equal to the thickness of the respectiveflanges so that when a panel is seated, its inner face is flush with theinner faces of the two corner posts to which it is attached; therecessed relationship giving a finished appearance to the inside of thecabinet.

In tl e present construction, the inventors have cornbined therecognized advantages of metal furniture with those of wood furniture,avoiding the disadvantages of each. But they have gone beyond this. Thebasic prin ciples of construction may be applied to all of the cabinettype articles of furniture in a suite, providing a pleasing continuityof design. And, although it cannot be fully appreciated from thedrawings, the large unbroken finished wood surfaces afforded by theconstruction are outstandingly attractive.

This disclosure concerns hospital furniture construction primarily, butit will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that theprinciples are equally adapted to all furniture constructions, domesticas well as institutional. As an example, office desks and other articlesof furniture having corner posts exposed to knocks can be improvedimmeasurably by using the aluminum extrusions disclosed here instead ofordinary post construclions, whether they be wood or painted metal. Theextruded aluminum posts need not be painted, in fact, it is preferredthat the metal be uncoated. In this condition, even though hit or bumpedhard enough to be indented or scratched, such marks are not particularlynoticeable upon the bright surface. Bright aluminum is infinitely betterthan a painted surface in this respect because of the likelihood ofpaint chipping. And then in addition, the attractive contrast betweenwood and metal would be lost by coating the aluminum.

Having described our invention, we claim:

1. In cabinet construction, a pair of horizontally disposed rectangularforms, said forms fabricated from metal structural members and arrangedone above the other in vertically spaced relationship, four metal cornerposts, each corner post having a hollow tubular portion and a flangeportion, said flange portion being co-extensive and integral with saidtubular portion and extending substantially tangentially therefrom, aflat face on said tubular portion, said flat face being co-extensivewith said flange portion and disposed at substantially right anglesthereto, said posts arranged in pairs at opposite sides of therectangular forms with the flange portions of the posts of each pairdisposed inwardly of the tubular portions thereof and extending towardone another, the respective rectangular forms rigidly secured directlyto the inner faces of said flange portions by metal fasteners wherebysaid posts and forms comprise an all-metal skeletal cabinet framework,and a wood side panel secured to the outer sides of the flange portionsof each pair of corner posts with the opposite vertical edges thereofabutting said flat faces of the. respective tubular portions of saidcorner posts.

2. In cabinet construction, an all-metal skeletal framework comprising apair of horizontally disposed rectangular forms, said forms fabricatedfrom metal structural members and arranged one above the other invertically spaced relationship, four metal corner posts, each cornerpost including a hollow tubular portion and a flange portion, saidflange portion being co-extensive and integral with said tubular portionand extending substantially tangentially therefrom, a flat face on saidtubular portion, said flat face being co-extensive with said flangeportion and disposed at substantially right angles thereto, said postsarranged in pairs at opposite sides of the rectangular forms with theflange portions of the posts of each pair disposed inwardly of thetubular portions thereof and extending toward one another, and metalfasteners securing the respective rectangular forms directly to theinner faces of said flange portions of said posts.

3. in cabinet construction, a pair of horizontally disposed rectangularforms, said forms fabricated from metal structural members and arrangedone above the other in vertically spaced relationship, four, identical,metal corner posts, each post including a hollow tubular portion and aflange portion, said flange portion being co-extensive and integral withsaid tubular portion and extending substantially tangentially from aside thereof, a Hat face formed on said tubular portion, said flat facebeing adjacent to said flange portion and disposed at substantially aright angle thereto, said posts arranged vertically in pairs at theopposite sides of said rectangular forms with a post at each of the fourcorners of the cabinet structure and with the flange portions of theposts of each pair disposed inwardly of the tubular portions thereof andextending toward one another, the respective rectangular forms rigidlysecured to the inner faces of said flange portions by metal fasteningmeans, whereby said posts and forms comprise an all-mctal skeletalcabinet framework, and a side panel secured to the outer faces of theflange portions of each pair of corner posts between each of therespective tubular portions thereof, said side panels displaying a woodface outwardly, whereby the cabinet from the outside thereof appears tobe made primarily of wood.

4. ln cabinet construction, a pair of horizontally disposed rectangularforms, said forms fabricated from metal structural members and arrangedone above the other in vertically spaced relationship, four metal cornerposts, each corner post including a hollow tubular portion and a flangeportion, said flange portion being co-extensive and integral with saidtubular portion and extending substantially tangentially from a sidethereof, a flat face on said tubular portion, said flat face beingco-extensive with said flange portion and disposed at substantially aright angle thereto, said posts disposed at the respective corners ofsaid forms and arranged in pairs at opposite sides of the rectangularforms with the flange portions of the posts of each pair disposedinwardly of the tubular portions thereof and extending toward oneanother, the respective rectangular forms rigidly secured to the innerfaces of said flange portions by metal fastening means, whereby saidposts and forms constitute an all-metal skeletal cabinet frameworkhaving the area between the inner faces of the respective flanges andbetween the respective vertically spaced forms free of structuralobstructions, a wood side panel secured to the outer faces of the flangeportions of each pair of corner posts with the opposite vertical edgesthereof abutting the flat faces on the respective 5 tubular portions ofsaid corner posts, whereby only the tubular portions of the respectivecorner posts are exposed to the outside of the cabinet construction toprovide a contrasting wood-metal appearance in which the woodpredominates. 10

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,345,366 Iippson July 6, 1920 15 10 Bryers Oct. 5, Campbell June 7,Hernandez Dec. 2, Chrnurski Feb. 11, Hartman June 2, Clouse et al. July5, Ball Aug. 2, Blazey Nov. 1, Wallance Oct. 23,

FOREIGN PATENTS Great Britain Dec. 16, France Oct. 9,

